J'aime le français
by Setsuna Revolution
Summary: Even though many changes occured after the Etoile election, one constant variable remains-Nagisa is still terrible at French. That is, until the former - Etoile helps her with her French homework...and then some. One-shot, Nagisa and Shizuma.


***Setsuna here, with a Strawberry Panic fanfic. This is a prime example of when my little writing demons won't leave me alone. I've had the idea stuck in my head for a while. I know I've read a story with a similar concept, (it wasn't Strawberry Panic) but I can't remember what it was. Anywho, thanks to that story, the idea popped out. Along with the fact that Nagisa and Shizuma are like the best couple ever. So here it is, a one-shot that shows more of this couple's relationship. Thanks to everyone for reading....without further ado...**

**Pairing: Nagisa Aoi and Shizuma Hanazono....also I don't own them or the series, but I love watching it repeatedly.**

**Rating: T, to be safe. Warning: My French isn't that great, please regard this kindly.**

**Summary: **_**Even though many changes occured after the Etoile election, one constant variable remains-Nagisa is still terrible at French. That is, until the former - Etoile helps her with her French homework...and then some. One-shot, Nagisa and Shizuma.**_

**J'aime le français**

_Shizuma Hanazono and Nagisa Aoi_

**by: Setsuna Revolution**

It was mid afternoon on a beautiful sunny day on Astrea Hill. With a few hours still to go before curfew, students of all three schools were out and about. Spring was arriving soon and clubs were in full motion. With it being too gorgeous of a day to pass up, everyone occupied their time with outdoor activity. Everybody but one person, that is.

Nagisa groaned in frustration as she stared out the unobstructed window of her shared dorm room. She eyed an unusually cheery group of Miator students, including her friend Tamao, eating their lunches together. She longed to run from the confines of her room and join them all, but she couldn't, school came first. She diverted her eyes.

How long had she been staring? She had a lot of work to be done, there was no time for fun right now.

Her teachers were truly evil. Not even two weeks had passed since their last major test, not too mention the Etoile election and of course, Shizuma's shocking love confession. The teachers had issued more homework than what should have been deemed reasonable and the subject that warranted most of Nagisa's headaches was French. Who would have thought that one of the most beautiful languages in the world could be a pain in the ass?

The auburn-haired girl neatly sat herself down at the wooden desk, scooting the chair in as close as possible to the awaiting blank paper. Her notebook sat open and her French book was barely skimmed through. She really hated this subject. It wasn't enough that Nagisa had never taken any French classes previously, but apparently their teacher picked on her more by expecting her to be at the same level as the other fourth years. That and the fact that she had been zoning out more frequently in class as of late.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._ The more Nagisa looked at the dreadful foreign scribbles, the more she detested it. _Tap. Tap._ Her pencil continued to rap on the wooden surface. How she wanted so badly to be outside with everyone else, surely she was the only student working on her homework still.

"Arg, I'm hopeless," Nagisa said aloud to no one in particular, as she dropped her heavy head on the cold desk. A new place, a new school, a new love...things were supposed to get easier, right? If she didn't pass this French test, then she wouldn't stand a very good chance of passing and a then there would be a very high possibility of taking summer classes.

She already planned out her summer and none of it included a dusty classroom with just her and the uptight teacher. It did; however, revolve around a very attractive silver-haired girl and the beach.

"Pull yourself together, Nagisa, you can do this," she whispered words of encouragement to herself. She picked up the pencil yet again. She wouldn't give up, she was too stubborn. "Just remember...beach trip."

The words on her paper looked like a secret alien code, she had to catch up though. Everyone was so fluent in French already, even though Nagisa transferred in, the same was to be expected of her. _Learn it quickly. Beach trip. Beach trip. Stupid French._

She filled in the first few answers. They were easy enough. The first one read: _J'aime le français__**. **_

**I like French,** Nagisa neatly wrote on the paper, shaking her head in disagreement. She most certaintly did not like French. At least they always put the easy ones first. She answered one right, maybe there was some hope for her after all.

She read the second phrase: _Où vivez-vous? _This one was harder, she could distinguish the word 'where' in the sentence but she just couldn't be sure. The auburn-haired girl let out another long sigh. Maybe she could borrow Tamao's notes.

'_No, then I wouldn't actually learn any of it,'_ she thought. She silently cursed herself for not buying a French to Japanese dictionary. How forgetful of her. She looked at the paper once more. They still looked like scribbles. She pushed the chair back and stood once again. She could do with a quick break. If she recharged her mind, it would make a world of difference. She paced back and forth, slowly treading across the increasingly worn out carpet.

"I can't do this," Nagisa said as she fell backwards on her comfy bed, on the verge of tears, "I need help, if I fail this then I can't go-." She stopped abruptly, then it hit her like a metaphorical slap to her brain. "Shizuma-sama."

How could she forget that the silver-haired beauty was fluent in French. If anyone could help her, it would be Shizuma. Nagisa laughed at herself for not realizing earlier that she had her own personal dictionary, thesaurus, translator, anything she needed. She grabbed her papers from the desk and sprinted out the door, almost knocking over a pair of second years, in search of her girlfriend.

OOOOOOO

She ran as fast as her legs would take her. She checked the greenhouse first. That was one of her most sacred places. Upon rushing in, she startled the frail Hikari, who was tending to a certain type of red rose, called chinesis. Nagisa caught her breath a moment before she eyed the blonde-haired girl, then to the taller girl, Amane, who came running at the sound of Hikari being scared.

"Hi," Nagisa said breathlessly, that's when she remembered Shizuma wasn't the Etoile anymore, so she had no reason to be in the beautiful greenhouse. All her running gone to waste. Remembering her manners, Nagisa properly greeted the girls, "Good evening, Etoile." The two girls in front of her nodded, still slightly uneasy with the title and all that it accompanied.

"Sorry to interupt, I came to see Eto-ah, I mean Shizuma-sama," Nagisa said, taking a deep bow, "Would either of you two happen to know where she is?"

"She just left a while ago actually," Amane replied, noting Nagisa's downcast eyes at her reply, "She said she needed some fresh air."

"Oh," Nagisa muttered sadly, surely she wanted to see Nagisa badly as well. "Thank you for all the trouble, I'm sorry to bother you. I'll be letting myself out now." Nagisa turned on her heel to exit the beautiful indoor garden.

"You know," Amane said, stopping Nagisa in her tracks, "She had a feeling you'd come and see her today, so she told us," she broke her sentence to place her hand on Hikari's shoulder, receiving a heart-warming smile in return, "She'd be taking in some scenery and we were only to tell one person, that is, if this person was looking for her."

Nagisa smiled wide, she knew exactly where to look now. She turned and once again bowed a deep bow. "Thanks Etoile!" Then in a flash of auburn and green, she was gone before their very eyes. Hikari let out a slight chuckle as she went back to watering the various roses.

"What's so funny, Hikari?" her tall girlfriend asked her as she arranged some brightly colored hydrangeas.

"Nothing really," the blonde chuckled again, "It was just how quickly her expression changed in a matter of seconds." Amane joined her girlfriend in a hearty laugh. How good it was to be young and in love.

OOOOOOO

Nagisa ran as fast as her short legs would take her. Her destination was set in her head. She clutched her books closely to her chest. Soon she would see her again. Even though her and Shizuma were official and had been together many times, Nagisa still had butterflies in her stomach. Her legs guided her to the beautiful expanse of lake and even though she was out of breath, she still ran with all her energy.

The crystal clear blue of the lake came into view within a matter of minutes. Nagisa stopped to catch whatever remaining breath she had left. She lifted her head to take in her surroundings from behind her sweaty bangs. Clear skies, beautiful day, slight breeze, shining lake, but all of these things paled in comparison to Shizuma. But why was it that she still couldn't find the beautful woman she had fallen in love with.

Nagisa started to panic, Amane had meant this place, hadn't she? Yes, there was no where else she could have been. Nagisa looked carefully from side to side for any hope of seeing maybe a glimpse of silver, however far away it may be. But nothing, nothing but the nature surrounding here. Shizuma wouldn't have just forgotten about her like that, the rumors about how she just went out with people for a few months at a time couldn't be true.

The auburn haired girl felt stinging hot tears in her eyes as she dropped her forgotten books to the ground. This couldn't be happening, not after all they had been through. Nagisa felt herself losing control when suddenly two arms snaked around her shoulders, holding her firmly against the taller body she had longed for.

"Eeeh," Nagisa muttered at the initial shock, then she let out a sigh as she addressed her love, "Shizuma-sama." Her voice had cracked and before she knew it, tears were flowing down her cheeks.

"Nagisa..." Shizuma asked the girl in her arms, "What's wrong, love?" Shizuma was worried, if somebody had done something to her girlfriend, she would personally see to it that they paid dearly. The auburn-haired girl let out a small chuckle as she shifted in the older girl's arms. She stared long and hard into the forest green eyes that she loved so much.

"It's silly," Nagisa finally spoke, "I...just thought you were gone, but that was just me thinking too much, but actually, I was scared for a second there, you know?" Shizuma watched as her love spoke, slowly taking in everthing the younger one was saying. There's no way she could leave the girl all alone.

"It is silly," Shizuma replied, lifting the younger girl's chin ever so slightly with her pale hand. "Na-gi-sa," she whispered, before planting a small, tender kiss upon the other girl's lips. "I'm always with you." Nagisa let herself be held for as long as it took for the newly froming tears to dry up, for the slight pain she felt before to subside. Shizuma's warm embrace melted any insecurities that she might have once felt, they were gone away with the breeze passing by them.

And as far as they were concerned, they were the only two people in the world, time was not relevant in their space.

"I'm sorry I scared you," Shizuma finally spoke after however long had passed. Nagisa shook her head and moved her arms just a fraction of an inch closer around Shizuma's waist. Shizuma smiled in Nagisa's hair as she opened her eyes for the first time since they embraced. "Oh no," she added.

"Shizuma-sama?" Nagisa asked pulling away from her warmth. Shizuma's eyes were fixed downwards on a spot behind the younger girl's head. Nagisa turned to see just what exactly the other girl was looking at. She found them, discarded and forgotten, tossed haphazardly on the ground. Her French book and notebook lay in a defeated heap just a few feet away.

"Crap," Nagisa gasped, as she ran to pick the neglected books up. Shizuma let out a small chuckle which soon turned into a full blown laugh when Nagisa proceeded to pick up her notebook, only to have the whole middle section of paper fall out of it. "Shizuma-sama," Nagisa said, as she puffed out her cheeks in embarrassment. Shizuma muttered a short apology as she stooped to help the girl pick up her material.

"French again?" Shizuma asked, grabbing the book from Nagisa's small hands. "Don't tell me this is why you were in a hurry to see me." Shizuma faked a hurt expression by placing a hand over her heart.

"That's...well," Nagisa said quietly, biting on her lip. It wasn't the only reason. "That's not _entirely_ true." Nagisa struggled with what exactly to say.

"But mostly," Shizuma added, "So that's why my cute little Nagisa was running so fast. I thought someone had announced that they stole the last piece of cake." Shizuma laughed harder as Nagisa's face grew two more shades of red.

"Your picking on me," Nagisa observed as Shizuma nodded. "I...also really missed you. I went to the greenhouse first and they, the Etoile, relayed your message and my legs acted before my mind. They automatically knew to come here." Nagisa broke her gaze to stare off at the lake once more.

"Nagisa," Shizuma whispered as she placed her hand on the other girl's, threading their fingers together. "We'll, let's get some work done while we both have the free time, what do you say?"

Nagisa looked confused at first then she noticed her love holding her worn out French book still. That was the last thing on her mind at this point, but she smiled anyway, taking the book from Shizuma's grasp and turning to the current homework.

"Tell me what you're having problems with and I'll help, it'll be just like the last time we studied together," Shizuma smiled. Nagisa fondly remembered back when she first began French, Shizuma had agreed to help her. Nagisa couldn't help but grin wide. Those were some of the best days in her school life this far. She couldn't wait to get started again.

The two girls sat carefully by the lakeside, the bottoms of their Miator unifroms tucked neatly underneath them. Nagisa opened the book to her assignment explaining the details of her work to Shizuma.

Shizuma smiled at her adorable girlfriend who was blissfully unaware of just what Shizuma had in store for her.

OOOOOOO

"No, that's not quite right," Shizuma said quietly, hoping to not defeat the younger girl's hopes too much. "Are you really listening to everything I'm explaining to you, Nagisa?"

They had been studying for over an hour and Nagisa still wasn't any better at French. She was trying hard, but somehow she just couldn't focus and with curfew vastly approaching, they didn't have too much longer before they would have to go back to the Strawberry Dorms.

Nagisa, once again, wasn't paying attention. She didn't mean to get distracted but when the breeze picked up slightly, the scent of Shizuma's perfume caught Nagisa off guard. She had never paid much attention to it before, after all, Shizuma had always smelt amazing. However, after the breeze had been long gone and hardly missed, Nagisa couldn't help but notice other things.

Her eyes.

Her hair..

..Her lips...

_'Ah, focus, focus, focus, on the task at hand_,' Nagisa thought as she wildly grabbed at her auburn locks. Shizuma stopped her sentence when it was obvious that the other girl wasn't paying any attention.

"Nagisa?" Shizuma called out as the girl-in-question's ears perked up and she caught her glare, "Let's take a break, shall we?" Nagisa answered with a nod, putting her books away to enjoy the peace and serenity of the lake. Nagisa found Shizuma's arm and wrapped herself aroud it, leaning into the taller girl. She let out a sigh. She could definitely die a happy girl.

The calmness inside Nagisa was broken when Shizuma ruffled her hair slightly and placed a tender kiss on her cheek. Shizuma smiled and dazed back off towards the neverending blue. Her heart was beating so fast. It had always been like that around Shizuma, but why was it more so today? All Nagisa knew is that along with the feeling welling up deep inside of her, all she wanted to do was kiss the silver-haired beauty senseless.

She bravely reached upwards when Shizuma suddenly spoke again. Nagisa retracted just slightly. Bad timing.

"You're getting so much better, you know," Shizuma said quietly, "No one would ever know that this was your first year learning the languauge." Shizuma was quite proud, she knew it wasn't impossible to teach the other girl, but she had definitely surpassed her expectations. Shizuma looked at her girlfriend who, oddly enough, was still in a daze and staring directly at her, well rather, staring directly at her lips. This did not go unnoticed by Shizuma.

"Back to the task at hand," Shizuma added, breaking the other girl out of her reverie. She lifted her hand and waved it in front of the shorter girl's face. "Nagisa, are you paying attention?"

"Wha...yeah," Nagisa stuttered as she focused. She grabbed her book once again and flipped it to the lesson where they left off. She had to clear her mind. She also had to seriously pass this test. There was no time for daydreaming or zoning out or indulging in Shizuma, sadly enough. She picked up her pencil, ready to jot down any notes that Shizuma would give her. She pointed to the page. "This sentence structure is giving me a little bit of a problem."

"Ah," was all Shizuma said as she placed her slender fingers around Nagisa's hand, which was currently writing out the next French words that needed translating. Nagisa looked at her with confusion. "We're going to try something different, hopefully it will help you better comprehend."

"Oh," Nagisa smiled, putting down her notebook and pencil on the hard ground, "Like flashcards." Shizuma let out a small chuckle and shook her head. Not even close is what she thought. Sometimes Nagisa could be dense.

"You won't be needing this," Shizuma said, yanking and tossing aside the poor French book, replacing Nagisa's empty hands with her own. Nagisa looked absolutely shocked and amazed. Her eyes were as big as saucers and mouth fell open. Shizuma surpressed the urge to giggle again. "Now, Nagisa. Your first word is **bonsoir**."

"Easy," Nagisa whispered, "That means good evening."

"Good," Shizuma replied as she interlocked their fingers, "But I'll let you know now that they won't _all_ be easy, love." Nagisa gulped as she readied herself for the next one. "Next is **comment allez-vous**? Truly, the former Etoile was brilliant at everything she did. There was not stutter and each word was delivered beautifully. To say Nagisa was a tad bit intimidated would be an understatement. The girl didn't realize how long she had been thinking until she felt a gentle nudge from her girlfriend.

"Ah, that would be how are you?" Nagisa said after a few careful seconds of deliberation. Shizuma nodded and Nagisa let out a small sigh of relief. She wasn't sure how this new tactic was helping until, in her another moment of pondering, she didn't see Shizuma's face inching ever so closer to her own.

"And now, how about **merci (beaucoup)**?" Shizuma asked while still inching closer yet. It took Nagisa much longer to answer with a quiet 'thank you.' She definitely couldn't concentrate with the other girl's lips so close. Was the teasing her way of helping somehow?" Shizuma was making this too easy, it was time for things to become a little more difficult.

"Try **tu m'as tellement manqué!**" Shizuma said, her lips just barely tickling Nagisa's eager lips. Nagisa closed her eyes. She could feel the other girl really close, it was painful. One more centimeter and their lips would meet. Nagisa struggled in her mind. If she could answer this question....but she didn't know this one. She recognized 'I' and 'you,' but she couldn't place the rest of it. Time was up, she had to answer.

"I...don't know this one," Nagisa replied sadly. What would Shizuma do? Nagisa had just enough time to catch Shizuma's mildly evil smirk before the silver-haired beauty ignored her waiting lips and instead bit down on her left earlobe, afterwards blowing cool air on the slight wound. The sound of Nagisa's gasp and sharp intake of breath was like music to her ears.

"Hmm, I do hope you'll try that one again," Shizuma teased, pulling the girl closer to her, with her finally coming to a rest on her lap. Many teases and failed attempts later, Nagisa found herself very much out of breath and still as confused as ever. Shizuma fired off phrase after phrase and yet again, Nagisa still didn't get them right. Just as promised, for every phrase Nagisa answered incorrectly, Shizuma did something more outrageous than the last.

They covered many things: sentence structure, proper pronuctiation, when to use certain words. Each time, Shizuma put an action with the word or phrase. She licked and bit, undid buttons, pulled hair, anything befitting proper punishment.

Currently, Nagisa's green Miator tie was undone along with the top four buttons of her uniform. Also, somewhere during the beautifully accented words, her auburn locks were set lose from her usual ponytail, the matching green hair tie resting snugly around Shizuma's wrist.

"Shizuma-sama," Nagisa let out an exasperated sigh. Her face was burning up. She had to stop the teasing, French was the last thing on her mind now. Shizuma certainly didn't help, looking at the younger girl in her arms with such a smug look, she had to know what sweet torture she was putting her through, and what's more, Nagisa could hardly understand a thing she was saying. To her credit, however, her French had gotten much better, she at least could take a somewhat accurate guess at the what she was saying.

"One more, Nagisa," Shizuma smiled, placing her hands on both sides of the other girl's cheeks. She slowly leaned in and bridged the painful gap between them finally. Shizuma softly brought Nagisa's lips against her own in a gentle, but meaningful kiss. For a brief moment, Nagisa lost all tangible thought and feeling. This certainly wasn't the first kiss the two shared, but each new kiss brought with with it a deepening love.

Shizuma pulled back slightly to catch a glimpse at her beautiful lover. The way her lips were parted ever so slightly and her eyes shut tightly. Shizuma felt her love truly overflowing for the fourth grader, she was thankful to have met the cheerful girl, knowing she would be with her for as long as they both lived.

**"Mon...amour...pour...toi...est...éternel, " **Shizuma whispered, placing gentle kisses on Nagisa's between each individual word. Even though Nagisa wasn't entirely sure what she had said, she was sure it was probably one of the most breathtaking things she had ever heard. "Je t'aime, Nagisa." That was the only phrase that Shizuma had said that seemed to ring through defiantly. Nagisa knew it's meaning.

Nagisa felt a tear betray her as it slowly rolled down her cheek. She then threw her arms around the older girl in a tight embrace. Shizuma, in turn, wrapped her arms protectively around Nagisa's waist. And for that period of time, there was nothing else, just the sound of two hearbeats beating in perfect rhythm.

It is then that the warning bell for curfew rang loud and clear and not too far in the distance the head sister could be heard ushering in people before it was too late and the gate locked them out for the night.

"Let's head back now, shall we?" Shizuma asked the other girl receiving a big smile and a nod in response. Shizuma helped Nagisa gather her things and together they started to head back hand in hand. Nagisa tightened her grip on Shizuma's hand causing the sixth grader to give her a look of concern.

"Je t'aime. I love you, too, Shizuma," Nagisa said shyly. Shizuma squeezed her love's hand briefly before continuing on their path to the Strawberry Dorms.

OOOOOOO

"Well..." Shizuma said impatiently to the girl standing before her. Nagisa shifted nervously in front of the other girl. She had yet to look at her score for her French final. She clutched the paper in front of her. "Are we going to the beach together?"

"No matter what happens, just remember I tried my hardest," Nagisa replied slowly unfolding the paper in front of her pretty face. After all of the extra studying and preparations the girl had done, she hoped some divine power was bestowing at least a sliver of good luck upon her.

After arriving back at her dormroom, Nagisa reluctantly added another extra hour of studying just to be secure and confident when it came to the test. She had even gotten some extra sleep so she could concentrate. Although the test was pretty standard, Nagisa did have some trouble with the dreaded final, not to mention the fact that she was distracted by her unorthodox studying session from the previous day.

Shizuma held her breath as she watched the shorter girl scan the page thoroughly before finally placing it on Shizuma's desk, her head hanging low. Shizuma reached out to console Nagisa when suddenly the shorter girl pulled her into a bonebreaking hug.

"I get to go!" Nagisa yelled happily. Shizuma smiled, slightly confused. She manuevered out of the death grip long enough to check the girl's paper. Nagisa had scored a surprisingly average score on her test. Shizuma put the paper down and returned the hug, to say she was proud would be an understatement.

Nagisa happily jumped around, dragging the poor former-Etoile along for the ride, playfully knocking both of them to the neatly made bed. Nagisa quickly and confidently captured Shizuma's lips. "Thank you so much Shizuma, I promise I'll make this up to you."

Make it up to her, she would. Shizuma seperated from Nagisa long enough to play with the younger girl's hair and come to a rest on her elbows. "Are you ready for your next lesson?" she said with a huge smirk, running the back of her hand down the other girl's cheek. The younger Miatorian stared in disbelief until her position was flipped. Shizuma's hands skillfully following along the slender curves of her body.

Nagisa moaned into the touch as Shizuma pressed her body firmly against her own. She undid the buttons of her dark-colored uniform slowly. Nagisa tangled her hands in luscious silver locks and pulled her lips into a bruising kiss.

Maybe learning French wasn't so bad after all....

**A/N: So this was quite the cheeseball of a story, I apologise. It's sort of like a drabble-y oneshot. I didn't want anything too serious with any real plot and few characters. One story is off the mind now. I'm currently working on a MariMite and Vocaloid stories, so forgive me if this is a little half-assed. Either way, I hope ya'll liked. French phrases were used, below are translations:**

**j'aime le francais**-i like french

**Où vivez-vous**_-_where do you live

**Bonsoir**-good evening

**comment allez-vous-**how are you

**merci-**thank you

**tu m'as tellement manqué-**i missed you so much

**Mon...amour...pour...toi...est...éternel-**my love for you is eternal

**ja t'aime-**i love you

Till next time, thanks guys!


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